U.S. consumption of turkey was a shade under 17 pounds per person last year.

It only seems as if all 17 pounds are consumed on Thanksgiving Day. Actually, the National Turkey Federation says only 27 percent of the nation's turkey production is eaten during the Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Year holiday period.

Still, no matter when it's served, there's a good chance the turkey will be overcooked, undercooked or both, depending on which part of the bird you slice into. This may explain why there's so much other food crowding the holiday table.

"Cooking turkey perfectly is difficult even for professional cooks" said Jamie Purviance, a California chef, cookbook author and master of cooking with fire.

He describes the traditional bird as a lean piece of protein with an irregular shape and two distinctly different types of meat that cook at different rates.

"You cook for juicy breast meat and the dark meat is spongy and underdone," said Purviance, whose last book, "Weber Real Grilling," sold close to a million copies. "(Or) you cook for well-done dark meat and the breast is terribly dry."

Purviance insists that his method of smoke-roasting a turkey -- starting the bird breast down in a roasting pan with a bit of seasoned broth, then turning it over after an hour or so -- gives the home cook a greatly improved chance of delivering that perfect bird."

The P-I spoke to barbecue neophytes and veteran smoke eaters throughout the region on how to cook the centerpiece of a turkey dinner. While they differed passionately on smoking techniques, they zealously agreed that cooking the bird over fire is the way to go.

"Smoking the turkey brings excitement and something new to the table," said Anthony James, who owns a Seattle software company and barbecues frequently for friends. "Once people try a properly smoked bird, they become immediate fans."

Smoking the holiday bird is growing "like wild" in the Pacific Northwest, says Colin Postance of BBQ Wood in Yakima.

"From early November to New Year's we are just swamped with orders for cooking wood, and most of it is going to wind up under a turkey," he said. "It's like the people up here have finally figured out what Southerners have known for decades: Mix gentle, carefully flavored smoke and a tender bird and there is excitement around the holiday table."

Bruce Bjorkman, who hosts a Portland radio show as Mr. Barbecue, says that for the past six years there has been a continuing surge in the popularity of smoked turkey.

"For the cook, smoking the bird is a stress reducer, said Bjorkman, who has written two books on smoking. "To do it properly, smoking is a slow and easy process. No rush. No hassle. Time to talk to the friends and family who've shown up for the festivities."

"And," he added, only partly in jest, "you have an unused oven that can be used for cooking other items."

There really isn't a traditional recipe for cooking smoked turkey. Seasonings, spices and rubs are rarely used because they would mask the flavor of the smoke. A little salt and pepper can be added to the olive oil that should be rubbed over the bird before it's put on the fire to prevent the skin from becoming too dark.

If possible, get a fresh turkey and, if you're feeding a large crowd, consider cooking two 10- or 12-pound birds rather than a 22-pound Tom. Not only are the smaller birds tastier, they're easier to handle and quicker to cook.

Brining

In smoking the bird, the key to making a recipe your own is the flavoring of the brine in which the turkey is soaked for hours before cooking. (Brine often is used regardless of how a turkey is cooked, not only to add flavor, but to keep the bird moist and tender.)

Almost all brines are salt-based. For a basic brine, mix two cups of kosher salt with two gallons of water, broth, juice or other liquid.

"Once I used cranberry juice in my brine," James recalled. "It was very tasty, but the purple meat was a bit much for some at the table."

Often a cup of sugar -- white, brown or maple -- is added to balance the flavors. At this point the cook is free to use anything in his spice rack to make the brine sweet or savory.

Place the bird inside a non-reactive pot, cover with the brine and refrigerate. If the bird is too large or there's no room in the refrigerator, place the turkey inside two large plastic bags, cover completely with brine, seal out the air and place in a cooler chest with ice all around. Turkeys around 12 pounds should be in the brine at least overnight. Larger birds need about 24 hours.

The wood

Selecting the right wood goes to the heart of proper smoking. There are as many different opinions on what to use as there are types of wood. For poultry and fowl, most cooks use fruitwoods like apple, pear and cherry. Some insist that hickory, maple, oak and even cedar give the best flavor. Others use a mixture.

"Pecan is becoming the wood of choice for turkeys. We ship more pecan than any other wood over the holidays," said Postance, the Yakima wood expert. "It's a nutty, mild flavor, and for cooks new to smoking it lessens the chance of overpowering the meat."

At the Caveman Kitchen in Kent, they smoke about 1,200 turkeys over the holidays and all of it over alder.

"We've been doing it for years and people just love the flavor of it," said Mike Maclaren.

Some smokers avoid mesquite because its flavor can be overwhelming. And, unless you want the bird to have the flavor of turpentine, do not use pine, fir and spruce.

"The biggest mistake neophytes make is to use too much smoke," said master smoker Bjorkman. "With turkey, you want a nice hint of smoke, not to hammer people over the head with it."

Safety

There are some safety rules that should be followed. U.S. Department of Agriculture researchers now say turkeys should be cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees. Also, the bird should never be stuffed because proper smoking is done at such a low temperature -- 200 to 275 degrees -- that the stuffing would never be properly cooked.

Methods

Obviously, a grill designed as a smoker will do a great job with the holiday bird and with less hassle. But this is no reason to toss out the barbecue grill that served so faithfully all summer.

For this story, I smoked three turkeys, one in a Texas-type smoker, another in a Weber kettle and the third in a gas grill I brought at a clearance sale for $69. As far as appearances go, the birds all looked good, well browned and evenly cooked. Each tasted different, but that was because we used different brine and wood for each.

For the steel drum smoker, the fire is built in a firebox attached to one end. Cooking temperature is controlled by adjusting the opening of a vent on the door of the firebox and another on the top of the smokestack rising out of the drum lid.

Once I got the fire going with charcoal. I added wet wood chunks, got them smoldering, and shut the vents to keep the temperature at about 250 degrees. About eight hours of cooking was needed to bring the 13-pound bird up to the USDA-recommended 165-degree internal temperature. I had to add wood twice to maintain the cooking temperature and about halfway though we turned the bird 180 degrees so the other side faced the firebox.

The Weber charcoal grill was about as easy. We laid a fire of hardwood lump charcoal, which starts easily and burns hot, then I added about 25 charcoal briquettes. When ignited, we moved all the glowing coals to one side of the kettle, then added about five fist-size chunks of well-soaked cherry wood and replaced the grill.

The 12-pound turkey was laid breast down, legs up, on a V-shaped rack, in a disposable aluminum pan with an inch or two of chicken broth, rosemary sprigs and some garlic and onion. This was to prevent the turkey breast from overcooking. About two hours in, we removed the pan holding the bird and, using clean kitchen towels, we turned it breast up and returned it to the grill and replaced the lid.

We added no additional wood or charcoal, and, using vents in the kettle's lid and base, it was easy to keep the temperature at a constant 250 degrees for an additional seven hours until an instant-read thermometer showed the bird was safely cooked.

The gas grill -- the nation's most popular style -- was a bit more touchy, but it produced a tasty bird in the end. Since it's a bad idea to lay the wood for smoking directly on one of the burners, something has to be found in which you can place the wet wood chips, to lay directly on the one burner that is lit.

A do-it-yourself device can be made by folding the chips in a pouch of heavy-duty aluminum foil, with holes poked in the top though which the smoke can escape. You also can try a small disposable foil tray, again covered in perforated, heavy-duty foil. While these may work well on short smoking sessions, such as for cooking a couple of chicken breasts or a piece of fish, we found them impractical for smoking something for long periods.

Next we tried three smoker boxes. One was an 8-by-4 1/2-inch cast-iron model from Northwoods Smoke (about $12, nwsmoke.com). Another was an 8-by-6-inch cast-iron box that a neighbor paid $22 for from a barbecue Web site. Both produced a decent flow of smoke but it was a challenge to remove and refill the hot boxes without risking burns. The one we finally used was "Sam's Smoker Pro," which we bought from BBQ Woods in Yakima (bbqwoods.com) for $50. It's made of heavy stainless steel, and at 11 by 12 inches was the largest we found. What made it easiest to use was that it has handles that can be grasped with potholders but also comes with a device to remove the lid for refilling, without removing the box from the burner.

This time we decided to use pecan wood chips in the smoker box. Again, the 12-pound turkey was laid on a rack, breast down, legs up, in another disposable aluminum pan. We added an equal amount of apple cider to the chicken broth and a couple of pinches of cinnamon to the pan.

Our bargain grill was really no bargain because there were no adjustable vents to regulate the temperature, no built-in thermometer to give us a clue on the cooking temperature and the lowest heat we could set on the one-burner was not that low. And even though we laid a thermometer on the grill to measure cooking heat, and stuck another probe into the bird itself, it cooked a lot faster than we wanted for a slow smoke. It reached 165-degrees within four hours. It was a bit drier than the other two birds, but neighbors said it tasted great.